Suunto X10 [66/98] Cross country running

4.2. CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING

This section describes a typical way to use your Suunto X10 in such sports activities

as running or cycling, where speed and distance information is needed more often

than navigation.

Early Sunday morning, Roger Runner wakes up to the beep of his Suunto X10. It is

time for his 30km run, one of the most important training sessions on his preparation

for the Mont Blanc trail marathon. After breakfast, he fills his hydration pack, puts on

his running shoes and is ready to go.

Outside the front door, he scrolls to the Activity mode of his Suunto X10 and sets the

activity to

. He waits a short while for the satellite reception and checks that the

GPS fix interval has been set to 1 sec, giving him the fastest sampling rate for speed,

distance and memory recording. Living on the outskirts of the Jura mountain range in

France, he likes to run on the nearby hills, and is interested in the altitude readings on

his run. Therefore he selects the altitude for the bottom row of the Activity mode. Then

he hits the road.

While running, Roger keeps an eye on his speed and follows the distance on the

display. On the eight kilometer mark, he checks the current time by selecting it on the

bottom row with STOP/BACK. Another press of the button brings the time from start on

the display. He keeps on running and checking these pieces of information every now

and then. On about three km intervals he takes a sip of sports drink and views the

summary data of his run. With one press of START/DATA he sees his average and

maximum speed, total ascent and descent and other useful information.

Roger has some adventurer blood in his veins, and he often finds unknown tracks

irresistible. This time he runs farther than usual and finds a nice new single track. After

a few turns and crossings on the new path, he has 18 km on the display but is no

longer sure how to get back home. He switches to the Navigation mode and finds out

that the starting point is located exactly 7.54km away, almost in the opposite direction.

So, he turns around and after ten minutes recognizes the surroundings again. From

there he chooses a flat track he knows, and where he can maintain a constant 12km/h

speed more easily than on the hills. Well, if that can be called easy after two hours of

constant running.